When Linda Clem hears young people wandering the paths outside her Keystone home, she listens carefully and watches their activity.

“There are these wonderful giggles that come from my woods, and I know it's the Keystone Science School,” said the woman who's chosen the Science School as one of three organization to which she donates time.

It's her proximity to the school and her passion for education that makes her a ready-made volunteer for the nonprofit, which celebrated its 35th birthday over the weekend.

And it's not just the children that make the school's campus, tucked away in the Keystone neighborhood, fun to visit.

It's also the staff.

“They're like little Energizer Bunnies,” she said, later adding, “Getting involved with these young adults has been the bonus to getting involved with the Science School.”

Keystone Science School has seen its share of ups and downs over the last 35 years. Sscience, adventure and fun are tied to a mission of encouraging students to become familiar with scientific and critical thinking skills to be engaged citizens and leaders.

As an offshoot of the Keystone Center, which brings public, private and civic sector leaders together to take on environmental, energy and public health problems, the Science School aims to teach students “not to go hug a tree, but whether they want to go hug a tree,” school director Ellen Reid said.

“They're not teaching them what to think,” Clem said. “They're teaching them how to think.”

And that concept has remained a pillar of Keystone Science School since 1976.

“(Founder Bob Craig) understood that the most effective leaders are inspired at an early age — with experience providing the groundwork for well-rounded, thoughtful members of society,” Reid said. “As KSS has grown up, we have gone from a quiet site with a few historic buildings from Old Keystone Village to a vibrant campus featuring two dorms, a renovated dining hall, state-of-the-art observatory, a yurt, and hordes of energetic students. Over the years, as the vision and mission of the school evolved, so did the programs that provided meaningful experiences to our family of participants.”

Keystone Science School originally hosted about 300 students, and has grown to reach about 5,000 students annually, with about 4,000 coming through 10 months of school programs, Reid said. Summer camps have grown from about 175 students several years ago to about 1,000 today.

“Our programs, knowledge and experience have advanced, but the drive to make a difference in the world has remained a steady foundation for the work we do,” Reid said.

Growing Keystone Science School

During her five years of volunteering with the Keystone Science School, Clem has seen the school rise to better recognition in the community and in the region.

“For a long time, Keystone Science School was Summit County's best-kept secret,” she said. “Ellen and her present staff have really put it on the map. They're out there not only fundraising, but friend-raising.”

Keystone Science School board member Doug Sims and his wife, Nancy, have supported the Science School for four years, during which they've grown attached to its reinforcement of the sciences and encouraged the integration with Summit Schools.

“It's an organization that's adding value to the community and particularly Summit County by exposing young people to the science of the outdoor environment,” Sims said.

The staff brings an almost irresistible enthusiasm, he added, referring in particular to school programs director Dave Miller and camps and retreat director Joel Egbert.

“The staff there shows so much passion that when they need something, it's hard to say no,” he said. “I'm amazed at what they do with so few resources.”

Which is a challenge to overcome in the future, as staff and board members look toward another phase of capital improvements that would add staff and programming capacity, Reid said.

Continuing to improve the aging, 23-acre campus should allow the staff to expand programmatically, she said, such as strengthening a new partnership with Summit Schools, diversifying curriculum and helping enhance education across the country through school programs.

“We want to keep broadening our reach,” Reid said, something Craig is eager to watch happen.

A top school

Craid said the school is close to being free from subsidy from the Keystone Center, has a new board to direct its future, and believes the institution is on its way to becoming one of the premier science-teaching schools in the country — particularly since other schools model programs initiated in Keystone. He credits Reid and her staff for that progress as well as the generous contributions of Lee Henry, Joan Houlton, John Fitzgerald, Robert Follette and Sims for helping make the school what it is.

“I'm totally impressed. I'm very proud of what they've done,” Craig told the Daily, adding, “I feel very good about (the future) with Ellen Reid as the director and the staff there that's really outstanding — some of the very best I've seen.”

Sims said ideas for the school go far beyond what there's money to do. But he's pleased with the school's enhanced reach into the inner city students along the Front Range, particularly with school programs such as H2O Outdoors, a program that asks students to take on stakeholder roles and discuss ongoing water issues.

“It's interesting for kids from Denver to see where their water comes from and how valuable it really is,” he said. “It's eye-opening to watch those kids wrestle with the issues adults wrestle with every day.”

The past 35 years hasn't just been about building programs, enhancing the campus, and growing attendance. It's also about the exchange of learning — as Reid said, growing up together.

“As we've pushed our students to think differently, broaden their perspectives, and become empowered to effect meaningful change, they, too, have guided us in the most effective ways to teach them. We have, in a sense, grown up together,” she said.